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One De over lunch…
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Shobhaa De certainly doesn’t need a kitchen to cook up a storm!
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Photo: Anu Pushkarna
Tantalising tidbits Shobhaa De
Socialite Evenings” and “Starry Nights” notwithstanding, Shobhaa De is not one of your standard ladies who lunch! She gently makes the point when she says she prefers to eat at home any day rather than in restaurants. But in New Delhi, where she has flown up for the launch of her recent Penguin publication, Superstar India: From Incredible to Unstoppable”, she cannot indulge her “hausfrau” tendencies. As energy and mind-boggling variety go, India at 60 and Shobhaa at 60 present an equally vibrant picture. If the difference between her sizzling fictionalised descriptions of Bollywood’s casting couch and her intellectual discussions on India’s journey from Independence to the present is striking, so too is the contrast between her numerical age and her appearance. Slim and fetching in leggings and a revealing top, she tackles the interview with unflagging patience.With her packed schedule, the former model, anchor, editor of Stardust and versatile author reinforces the idea that age is only in our heads. But then, if she hadn’t been a woman, would we all be gasping at her agility at 60? Probably not. That’s why she has made it a point to spread the much quoted message, “60 is the new 40”. But traditionally in India, it wasn’t necessary for women to be reminded of this.
“In traditional India, a woman of that age is a matriarch, a wise woman, one you can turn to for counsel,” she explains. “In fact, Asian societies respect age.” But this is not the case in the cities, she adds, especially if a woman is widowed and 60. “You don’t get access even to the daily trivia of living, like the newspaper, the bathroom — it’s a very cruel world,” she notes. On the other hand, a man of comparable age is seen differently by society. He could even aspire to marry a 25-year-old.
New-age man
Over a platter of assorted vegetable dimsums, she points out how women in India were never discriminated against “on paper”. Unlike, say, Switzerland, we always had universal adult franchise. But when Indian women began stepping out of their homes to work, the “big change” in society took place. “I don’t think you can turn the clock back,” she remarks, even as she feels that men have never completely come to terms with this change. The phenomenon of “the so-called new age man” doing domestic chores is only “to keep the peace,” she suggests, saying they would opt for the old order if they could, and that’s why the saas-bahu serials that reflect that world are so popular.
There are aspects to the homemaker’s role that don’t attract the vivacious author. One is washing dishes, which she finds “grubby”. But ironing “is a joy”. Even in hotels, she asks for an ironing board and an electric kettle.
Chinese delights
While Bengali food is the norm at the De home, Shobhaa loves Chinese food — “I could eat it every day” — as well as Japanese. Normally, lunch would have been a glass of lassi, and the main meal of the day dinner. “I’m not a breakfast person. I’m too impatient to start work,” she adds.
Though Shobhaa works from home, her husband calls the shots in the kitchen. This mother of six never subscribed to boy-girl stereotypes.
“If it’s something you’re attracted to, be my guest and step into the kitchen. But I would never brainwash my daughters into believing that every woman has to be a good cook.”
As for cooking up stories, now that’s another dimension.
ANJANA RAJAN
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Puducherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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